Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon

If you haven't heard of Sailor Moon then I advise you stop living under a rock! She's the most iconic girl in the magical girl world and the anime is such a classic! But I'm not here to tell you about the amazing 200 episode long anime that EVERY ONE should watch, Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon is the live action sailor moon. All the characters that you know (or should know) and love but as real people! The plot is obviously very similar to the anime but there is still a lot of difference. After Usagi Tsukino finds the magically talking cat plush named Luna (yes, it's a plush and not a real cat) she's transformed into sailor moon to fight the evil youma. She quickly finds Ami Mizuno, Rei Hino and Minako Aino to fight along side her as Sailor Mercury, Sailor Mars and Sailor Jupiter. Now they fight together as the Sailor Soldiers of Justice. Although the first few episodes seem almost identical to the anime it's after Sailor Jupiter joins in that the there are some major plot difference. They have to find the Mystical Silver Crystal before the enemy and the story place a lot more importance on this crystal than the anime does. And also, it's more character based then the anime so there is a lot more depth to the characters. There's lots of extra stories for friendship bonding and character development which were definitely missing in the anime. It;s really interesting and every episode gives you something new: about the mysterious Tuxedo Mask, the even more mysterious Sailor V or about the origin of the Sailor Soldiers. Although the whole plot is a lot more condensed (only 51 episodes!) it somehow feels like there's a lot more in it! But then, it is only the first story arc.

Like I said, compared to the anime there is a lot more depth to the characters, mostly they just interact more with each other. Like Ami! She never had any friends before Usagi so when Usagi approaches she's suspicious and when they do become friends she feels insecure. And Rei has all sorts of family problems which could explain her unfriendly personality. Just little things like that make every one seem the much more real. The characters are so varied and their personalities mix so well: it's so much fun because every one has different relationships with each other. What's even better though is that the enemy have their own personality too! There's enough scenes of --, Nephrite and Zoisite to pick up individual traits from each of them! Also about Queen Beryl's narcissistic personality: basically she needs all her henchmen to love her which is quite amusing. Although the characters have a lot of depth and interesting quirks they are still cheesey and cliched enough to resemble the old anime. They are all just so perfect!!

But when it comes to Sailor Moon cliches, the transformation scenes are the best! Seeing them done by real people is just amazing. They don't have the best CGI, but they try their best on those transformation scenes and the outfits are just so adorable!! But I do have standards. Two things which really suck. First is the youma (monsters) who are all made of horrible plastic suits and really lack originality, I know it's a low-budget series, but they still should of put more effort in making their monsters scary or at least unique! But what annoys me more is the Sailor Soldiers gymnastics display - their so-called "fight scenes". Spinning around with your arms out like an aeroplane does not count as fighting! And all those cartwheels do not help you move out of the way quicker. Then, when they do actually attack it looks like the director didn't even try! Whoever choreographed the fight scenes should be fired and never given a job again! I could rage about this even more, but I won't bore you with all that. 

So I have two things I hate in this anime and the acting is quite mediocre. But it's Sailor Moon guys!  You can't dislike it! I'd probably say this is better than the anime: it's shorter and has a less cheesey plot (even if the fight scenes are worse). Also the characters are so much more convincing. You can't get much better in a live-action magical girl show. Maybe it's just the nostalgia, but I really love this show, especially with all the extra character development!!

Sorry, all the videos were riddled with spoliers!

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